Rynard Landman’s red card condemned a resilient Newport Gwent Dragons side to home defeat against Connacht in the GUINNESS PRO12. In treacherous conditions Landman was dismissed for a first-half elbow on Jack Carty. That put the Dragons on the back foot and tries from Craig Ronaldson and Eoghan Masterson gave the visitors an advantage that couldn’t be clawed back. It wasn’t for a lack of effort and, every time the game looked beyond doubt, they scrapped for a way back into the match. But in the end the task was too much for the home side who sink to their second consecutive home defeat – albeit with a losing bonus point. Newport had a penalty within five minutes and were on the board early as Tom Prydie kicked an easy chance. Rain sodden conditions weren’t helping the aesthetics of the early exchanges as both sides struggled to put meaningful spells of possession together. But Connacht burst to life on seven minutes to find themselves with some space inside the Dragons’ 22 and Ronaldson exploited the gap to dot down – Carty converting from in front of the uprights. There was more bad news for the home side moments later as Jason Tovey limped off after landing awkwardly. With 11 minutes gone Carty had his fifth point of the afternoon as he turned over a simple penalty to make it 10-3. It went from bad to worse for the Welsh region after 14 minutes as they were reduced to 14 men when captain Landman saw red for an elbow to Carty. The resultant penalty was screwed wide from 30 yards by Carty but Newport were up against it and faced the prospect of playing 65 minutes a man down. Pat Lam’s men smelled blood and they had the chance to pull further ahead after 20 minutes but once again the boot of Carty proved inaccurate as his kick was blown wide. The Dragons were still in touch – in part thanks to a strong breeze – but the match all but slipped out of their reach after 22 minutes when Masterson scored and Carty added the extras to make it 17-3. Lyn Jones’ men were down but they showed that they weren’t out as some exquisite ball movement carved the Connacht defence open and Hallam Amos sprinted across the whitewash – Prydie’s conversion foiled by the wind. With time ticking down in the first period the Dragons found themselves right back in the match as Prydie kicked over to make it 17-11. As conditions worsened the early exchanges of the second period became a real battle as Connacht looked to secure territory and force the Dragons into desperation mode. Neither side looked like budging as both went in search of the vital score but, after 57 minutes, Darragh Leader had the first points of the second half with a penalty. The floodgates threatened to open and Leader had kicked another penalty two minutes later to move Connacht’s advantage to nine. But the Dragons were proving resilient and produced a relentless assault on the Connacht line in a desperate attempt to get back in touch. And they managed to claw their way over thanks to Jack Dixon – Prydie converting. But it proved to be false hope in the end for the Dragons as Connacht sealed the win when Mick Kearney cleverly chased down a blocked kick and got to the loose ball first to touch down – Leader converting. The home crowd were at least given something to shout about in the dying minutes as Amos scored his second in the dying moments to snatch a losing bonus point. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12
